2023 Summer

This summer has been like a dream.  It started with moving to America and doing a jet legged birthday party for Tucker at my parents house.  

We spent most of the summer living with them and hanging out while Bob commuted to work and we looked for a rental house/cars/everything.

We went on lots of walks and played a lot of pickle-ball.  It was great having my parent there to entertain the kids.  Their house and yard are so much bigger than we are used to in Japan.  

Bob was able to buy a truck, trailer, and tractor to get things going on the land.  Unfortunately we haven't been able to work on the land at all.  We have been going through the permit process since March trying to get everything in order.  We thought he would work on it all summer, now I'm just hoping he can get started in the Fall.

Tucker went to FSY and young men camp with church.  He had a great experience at both and it was strange for me to drop him off at a college campus.  I'm not ready for that yet.

We had a watermelon eating contest.

Hiked on Mt. Rainier.

Took Penelope to FSY.  I was so proud of her for going.  She went to this church camp without knowing a soul.  It was very brave of her.  She had a great time.  She also went to young women camp with Scarlett.

The neighborhood school gave out free lunches most days.  I loved it.  We walked to the school and played on the toys and the kids ate.  It got us outside and was one meal that we didn't have to make and clean up ourselves.  The food wasn't great and the kids hated going.  I love my parent neighborhood and think it is so nice that they are within walking distance of the elementary and middle schools.

The kids had a bear picnic with cousins.

We had a zoo day with friends.

Most of my family came in town for a Swift reunion.  I didn't get many pictures but we had a ton of fun.

After that we flew to Michigan for a Woestman reunion.

We saw the Barbie movie (loved it).

We hiked Ape Caves.

Went fishing.

We made several backyard fires where we had hot dogs and s'mores.

Took a trip to Northwest Trek.  Thank you to the library for the summer reading program and the free passes the kids got for completing it.

Tucker reluctantly got his learners permit and is starting to drive.

Talitha caught us all up on much needed haircuts.

More fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

All the kids went to the dentist and the doctor for check ups.  All good there.

Tucker is even going to get braces soon.

We went on a 17th anniversary date to the temple, Cheesecake Factory, and iFly.

I celebrated my 36th birthday.

And lastly we moved into a rental house.

I really loved this summer.  Spending time with family was everything we were missing in Japan.  Not to mention that the weather in Washington during the summer is pretty much perfect.

Tomorrow I'l start my job at Navy Federal here in Washington, and in a couple more weeks the kids will be back to school.  We are still living out of our suitcases and don't expect to get most of our things until mid September.  Tomorrow we are getting our storage things back, so everything we left in Washington that we havn't seen for the past 6 years will show up at our house.  I'm a little scared to see what we left.